The Constitution of 1947 and the Bulgarian Orthodox Church

Authors:

Pages: 164-177

Abstract:

Determining the relations between church and state has a significant place in the development and the adoption of the Constitution of 1947. The purpose of this scholarly report is to follow the debates in the different stages of activity of the Constitutional Commission in clarifying the texts relating to the constitutional position of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church; to clarify the position of the Holy Synod on the parliamentary principles of regulating the relationship between church and state; to indicate the changes in constitutional texts in the autumn of 1947 clarifying the impact of the Constitution of Yugoslavia of 1946 on the final editing of the texts relating to the status of the BOC and its relationship with the state. The conclusion emphasizes that the attempts of the Holy Synod at changes in the proposed text of the Fatherland Front on the status of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church were unsuccessful. The new Constitution abolished its dominant position among the other religions in the country and gave the authority of the ordinary legislation to deal with matters relating to legal status, material support, internal settlement and government of different religion communities.

Keywords:

the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, constitution, state, the Fatherland Front, the Bulgarian Workers’ Party (Communist), the Holy Synod, the Constitutional Commission

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